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To hear commentators talking about ‘the size of modern
bats’, you’d think cricketers were all wielding telegraph poles. Cricket bats
are allowed to be 38 inches long and 4¼ inches wide. There are no restrictions
on depth or weight.
The misconception is about size. A bigger bat is not more
powerful. Only a heavier one can deliver more power, and the truth is that most
bats are lighter now than they were in the seventies and eighties, when Clive
Lloyd wielded his 3lb 4oz Duncan Fernley Magnum, the SS Jumbo left no doubt as
to its selling point, and the Slazenger V12 evoked weighty profligate power.
So what is the problem, all of a sudden? The problem is that
today’s bats are simply better than yesterday’s. How they got to be better is partly
science, partly batmaking skill. By way of explanation, let’s briefly visit
another sport.
What should you do when there’s thunder and lightning on the
golf course? Hold a one iron above your head. Because even God can’t hit a one iron. Anyone who’s played golf
with old blades will understand this ancient gag. Tiny thin faces with sweet
spots the size of a pea, they were almost impossible to hit.
In the late sixties, Karsten Solheim of PING made his
fortune building up the edges around the back of the club face. This ‘perimeter
weighting’, made a crucial change to what is known as the MOI, or moment of
inertia, which basically in this context means its propensity to twist. Off-centre
strikes cause the face to twist, robbing the shot of power. Perimeter weighting
reduces this tendency, making it more forgiving, and effectively increasing the
size of the ‘sweet spot’.
And this is basically what’s happened to cricket bats.
Bigger edges means better middles, and a bat’s middle has always been the
measure of its worth. Modern bats taper towards the top and bottom, removing
wood where it’s not needed, leaving more for the middle.
Elegant slender neck and shoulders extending in graceful
curves along the sweeping spine towards the swollen sweet spot – this is the
language we use for bats these days. No wonder we’re seduced by them.
If the trend is more Marilyn than Twiggy, more Scarlett than
Kiera, it’s because with those curves, you can middle a cricket ball more
often, and get better results when you don’t. Which is even more seductive. We
love big bats, and we cannot lie.
The downside is that to be both big and light, the
water-hungry willow is dried out so much – moisture content can be reduced
below 10% – that durability suffers. Bats break constantly. A pro’s might not
even last an innings.
Bats for amateurs are necessarily less extreme (new bat
every year, maybe; new bat every game, maybe not,) but they’re following the
same principles. Friends of mine have started www.sticklebackcricket.co.uk,
making custom spec bats for club cricketers. They could be on to a winner.
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